So That's What it's Like to be a Temple Square Missionary

hello! how are you? thank you for the letters and all the encouragement! :) and of course the birthday present! I got it a little early and couldn't resist so I already opened it. thank you :) I loved it!

well let's see. I don't know where to start. the last two weeks have been nuts. sister Keogh and I haven't even had a full proper day of missionary work. we got pretty close on saturday haha it's but soo crazy. As you know, she's been really sick and she's been passing out a lot so they moved us to oxford for a few days to stay with a senior couple. then on tuesday they moved us to the temple. we got to work in the visitors center on the grounds so that was really fun. I loved it! there were times where it would get really slow cause no one would come in...let's just say I read almost an entire book on the Christus. I know way more about that statue than I ever dreamed haha they told me to read it so I can tell people stories about it when they come in. But it was fun staying at the visitors center. it was good for sister keogh as well because it helped her feel like she was actually being a missionary even though she's so sick.

We met with President Shamo on wednesday. first he took sister k in his office to talk with her and then he pulled me aside to talk with him and he asked what we should do. he said he was ready to give her a medical release that day and have her home by thursday. I figured that would be the case cause she's been so ill but I've been thinking a lot about the options and I know she needs to stay and I know we were put together for a reason. I know she is supposed to be on a mission. she will easily be the best missionary in this mission. I know that. so I told him all of that and I told him to keep us at the visitors center for a few days and go from there. so then he met with sister keogh again and then they called her parents and her dad was like just leave her. she'll get better. (we think it's due to lack of sleep/stress) so I think between the three of us we were able to convince president to let her stay. so he kept us at the visitors center till friday. it was fun. all the senior couples there treated us like royalty haha it was like a dream. president even gave us permission to go to the temple EVERYDAY that we were there!!! it was an amazing experience. I haven't been to the temple since december and so going three times in one week was so amazing. it is the best place on earth. the minute I walked in to the temple I was overwhelmed with the spirit and after i had changed and sat in the chapel I just cried. I'm such a baby haha but I love the temple so much and I was so happy to be there. plus when I am at the temple I can always feel my dad a bit closer than usual. I've been thinking a lot about him lately and how it will be three years on June 5. I can't believe it's been that long since I've seen him but I'm so grateful that I have the knowledge of the gospel and that I'll see him again :) I just wish I could get a big bear hug from him and hear his laugh. I miss that.

anyway, temple three times this week was definitely the highlight. I love it there.

so then on friday our zl's picked us up and we went back to our area that night. sister koegh seemed like she was doing better so the next day we went straight to work. she did ok until about 6 and then she could go anymore. she did her best though. then yesterday during stake conference she didn't look so good and after I asked the bishop to give her a blessing and while we were waiting she passed out again. a member caught her right before she fell out of her chair. it was wild. so we hurried and got her a blessing and then took her back to the flat. she almost passed out again when we got to our flat....I've gotten used to it by now which probably isn't a good thing...ha

we talked to president and he said he is going to make a final decision on tuesday what to do with her. he had called me when she was asleep and told me that he has already picked out a mini missionary I can serve with if he has to send her home.. I didn't have much of a response to that at the time but I really feel that she needs to stay on her mission so I'm going to talk to him and see if we can just serve at the visitors center until she's better. all I know is he can't send her home. she wants to be out so bad too. it's been really hard on her so just keep her in your prayers please :)

that pretty much sums up my week. things are going well. I love being here. my comp is awesome. president shamo is easily the best president I could have asked for, I've been able to talk to him a lot lately cause he's always checking up on sister k and he is so fun to talk to. he reminds me of dad :)

thank you for everything!! I love hearing from you and everyone. I loved all the pics you sent! I have the cutest family ever. and the cd's were very much needed. thank you!

one thing that I have loved during this time with sister keogh is I've had a lot of time to really dive into the scriptures and recieve answers to prayers and comfort. I think my favorite thing right now though is reading the conference talks. in our flat we have some from nearly 20 years ago and they are so cool. I love reading the words of the prophets, that always seems to give me the most enlightenment. this morning sister keogh and I did a study of the life of mormon and it was amazing, we were able to get a better grasp of who he was.

anyway, love ya! thanks for everything!!! you are amazing. I love you

love, sister gregson

ps romans 8:31

pps check out the song how great thou art/clair de lune by josh wright. AMAZING

LOVE YA

Oxford?!?

May 23, 2011

where do I even begin? this week has been crazy! 

 Good news! Sister Keogh's foot is better :) but we still haven't been able to work. like at all! I haven't even had a chance to take her contact walking yet and we've done maybe half an hour of knocking. it is a long story so get comfortable.

  Tuesday i was so excited because I thought it was going to be almost a normal day of missionary work. we had a couple teaches set up and we were going to do as much contacting as we could until her foot couldn't handle it anymore.

 so that morning we had a district meeting in Staines and she was really really tired and said she felt really weak but she was doing ok. then right at the end of district meeting she said she was going to be sick so we ran over to the bathroom, well she kind of hopped haha poor girl. afterwords we were in the kitchen with all the elders in our zone and I looked over at her and she looked really pale and weak so we got her a chair and some water. then a couple minutes later I look down at her and it looked like she couldn't keep her eyes open...it was way sketch.. so automatically I was like "give her a blessing now!!" so all the elders gathered around her and gave her a blessing. that was sooo cool to see/hear. the blessing was amazing. one of the best blessings I have ever heard. it was talking about how the pains she is suffering with right now are putting heavenly father in pain as well and he is there for her and knows this is something she has to go through. It talked about how Jesus christ is praying for her as well as a lot of people on both sides of the veil. it said that we are supposed to be serving together and we knew each other before this life and we will learn a lot from the experiences we will be having and then it said it is preparing both of us for motherhood. it was such an amazing blessing. I wish I would have written it down. we tried writing down what we could remember. I love the power of the priesthood :) seriously, it was so cool to see all those elders gather around her. powerful stuff

so then right after the blessing our zl's said they would give us a ride home which I was grateful for because we would have had to take a train and 2 buses back to High Wycombe and would have taken probably 2 1/2 hours. sister k didn't seem to have the energy for that. she could barely walk to the car. then as the zl's are driving us to our flat sister keogh looks really sick. it was kinda funny cause the elders were like 'you're not going to be sick are you??' they didn't want to deal with that haha this is where it gets crazy. we had been driving maybe 10 minutes when I look over at sister k and her eyes are rolling in the back of her head and she couldn't keep her head up. immediately I called president shamo while the elders were talking to her trying to keep her conscious. president told us to take her to the hospital right away. she was going in and out of consciousness, it was so crazy. I've never seen anything like it. so then we get to the hospital and we were there for probably 3 or 4 hours, the poor elders, they were champs. they stayed the whole time. I was grateful for that though cause if they hadn't been there I think I would have been paniking a lot more. they ran all these tests on sister k and we thought she might have had a negative reaction to her pain medication for her foot but the doc said that's not what it was but they didn't know what the cause of it was... they were so much help haha the doctor came in and was all yeah we don't know any reason why she was going unconscious but hopefully it won't happen again. see ya later! wow, thank you very much.

so luckily by then she seemed to be doing a bit better so we took her back to the flat so she could rest. the next couple days weren't as bad. she seemed to be doing better and she was conscious so that was good!! I would take her to our appointments and then we would just come back to let her rest cause for some reason she was exhausted and really weak. it was pretty frustrating for both of us but we just kept saying to each other this is god's will! we're both supposed to learn something from this, we just have to figure out what it is. let's just say I've been able to read nearly half of the new testament. the morning after the hospital the zl's called to see how sister k was doing and she wasn't doing too well so they asked me what I was going to do that day and I said, read the book of john. and you bet I did! ha I love studying and reading the scriptures. but when it's all you do all day you get a little antsy.. thursday the mission doctor came over and we talked about what happened on tuesday and apparently in the MTC she passed out a couple times as well so the doctor told her he is going to recommend to president shamo that she goes home till we figure this out...

  that seemed to be a drive for sister keogh cause she slowly seemed like she was getting better and she was determined to work but then friday was nuts. she woke up that morning but then said she wasn't feeling well so she went back to bed and then around 10:30 she woke up again, she looked really sick. I felt so bad. she wasn't saying anything so I just kept reading my scriptures and then a couple minutes later I look up at her and her eyes are rolling in the back of her head again! so I ran over to her and was trying to keep her from going in and out of consciousness. I called president and sister shamo but they didn't answer, I called the mission doctor but he didn't answer. so then I called my district leader and talked to him and he said he would make phone calls. I was surprisingly calm the whole time, I think it's because it was the same thing that happened on tuesday. however, tuesday it lasted maybe an hour. friday it lasted maybe 2 1/2 hours!! finally I was able to get a hold of the mission doctor and he told me there was no need to take her to the hospital and basically if she passes out I just need to catch her if she falls and then leave her....ummm. ok? then we got a phone call from the office and they said a senior couple from the mish is going to pick us up and we are going to be staying with them for a couple days in oxford. yep, oxford! but they didn't pick us up till probably 1. sister keogh passed out maybe 4 times that morning. the first time I was so scared. it was such a crazy morning. it seemed like hours! sister keogh doesn't remember any of it.

 anyway, that is the condensed version of my week. we have been in oxford since friday. the clarks are the couple that we are staying with. they are lovely. we are like a little family haha on saturday they drove us around oxford but we didn't get to see too much cause we didn't get out of the car. they even drove us over to c s lewis' old house and his grave which was really cool. I was thinking of katie the whole time cause she always sends me c s lewis quotes :) he has a cool nature walk that you can go on so we went a little ways. sister keogh was really tired so we didn't get too far but we started talking to this couple that was there (finally some contacting!!) they were way cool. they actually knew a lot about our church already. we ended up talking to them for maybe 30 minutes. guess what they were doing? geo cashing haha they were way cool.

 sooo yeah... that's been my week :) crazy right? sister k passed out again after church yesterday. I don't know what is going on with her. she said she's never dealt with this before. it is weird. we're meeting with a doctor at some point today and hopefully he will give us a bit more direction. I don't know if they will send her home but she said she knows she is supposed to be on a mission so maybe she will just have to serve in the visitors center for a while? crazy. 

 the High Wycombe ward members keep calling us to see how we are. they are so great. we were supposed to speak yesterday. oops! apparently the director of napolean dynamite is in our ward for a few months, that's what one of the members was telling us last night haha a whole film crew is with them. they are staying in our area and filming a movie. think they need any missionaries in it? :)

anyway. yeah. I think that's about it. who knows where I'll be this week!
thank you for everything!! I love you all so much, you are great examples to me. the gospel is true:) one thing that has been amazing through all this is as I've had a lot of time to read scriptures I am gaining even more knowledge of Christ. I love learning about him and reading the stories in the new testament and reading of all the miracles he's performed. I've found some really cool scriptures that haven't ever really stuck out to me before now. 

 I love you so much! thank you for all you do! keep sister keogh in your prayers please :) sure love ya!
 love sister gregson


ps tell grandpa when I was at the oxford ward elder donaldson from the 70 spoke:) I talked to him afterwords and he remembered me from the mtc, only because of my blood and who i'm related to of course. he is an amazing guy!

pps. exodus 14:14
  &  John 6:29, 35, 40, 47, 69

Sister Keogh

May 16, 2011

 I got my new companion on wednesday! her name is sister Keogh (key-o) and she is from dundee scotland! she is brand new, straight from the MTC and guess what? she's already broken.. she sprained her ankle on Monday and then she hurt it again on wednesday right before I met her. So she's on crutches. it's pretty sad. the poor girl. welcome to the mission!

this week was pretty dull to be honest haha she was on pain meds that made her really tired and really sick so we've been in the flat for like 4 days.......I'm going crazy. so is she. she's been really upset with the situation the last couple days cause we can't go out and work. sister Shamo told us to go to appointments when we have them and then just go right back to the flat so sister keogh can rest. we didn't even have hardly any appoinments so most of our time was spent in the flat. its nice and clean though! and I had the office order us new beds cause ours are awful and we were home all day so they could deliver them to us. It was probably the most exciting time of my day when they came to deliver them.

I've also called like a thousand former investigators so I could be doing some type of missionary work. no luck there haha. so yeah. it's been...fun :) Sister Keogh will be an amazing missionary once I get her out there. she's really quiet but she is an amazing teacher. I've had her practice teaching me a couple lessons and wow, I felt like she was the one training me! she'll be one of the best ones in the mission I bet.

I've been doing my best to try and cheer her up cause she's pretty upset but she doesn't think I'm as funny as I do haha oh well.

I'll keep trying, she says she's just upset with the situation. who can blame her? she was up a little bit more yesterday at church and then we had an appointment and it seemed like she was getting a little better but this morning she's in a ton of pain again so I don't know what will happen. sister shamo said to call her tonight and talk to her about it, I don't know if they'll send us to the visitors center to stay there for a while cause sometimes they do that. or maybe they'll just send her there and I'll stay and get a new comp. I don't know. sooo we'll see? 

  Robert is doing ok. his job has asked him to start working on sundays and he said he tried to get out of it but I don't think he tried very hard. I don't know what to do. I think we'll probably back off for a little bit, the YSA is really good and getting him to institute and other activities so that we'll be good.
  Jannie is doing great! still has every intention of being baptized in august. I think I've finally decided I'm ok with that. I wish i could be there for it but I've been in High Wycombe for a while, I don't know if I'll last another 3 months. he's awesome though. he's a dry mormon. he introduced himself to sister keogh yesterday and told her he is a member of the church! so that's good! haha

  yeah... that's about all I have to report on. we may start teaching this new guy, his name is tyrone and he is awesome! he looks like big mike from the blind side haha huge guy but he is so sweet. I met him when I was with sister Mocza. we were knocking on his neighbor's door and he was in his car and then called us over so we started talking to him. he is 19 years old and he doesn't really know what he believes but he really wants to learn more. we had appointment with him but because of sister Keogh's injury we had to cancel it cause she couldn't get around at all that day so hopefully we will see him soon. he is way cool!

  anyway, I hope things are going well back home! it sound like things are great. as always thank you so much for everything that you do for me. it means so much to me and it keeps me going. I look up to all of you soo much:) I love you!!

 love, 
 sister gregson

 ps 1 kings 19: 11-12

Ask Me if I'm TRAINING...

May 11, 2011

yep! I've been called to train!!! I haven't decided how I feel about it yet. I'm soo nervous. We're taking sister Mocza to the temple today at one and I'm getting my new companion! I don't know anything about her yet. president shamo called me yesterday and said 'are you ready for a new companion? and when I say new i mean NEW' ha! great. thanks president. ..I'm excited but a bit scared cause I feel like I haven't been out long enough to be a trainer but I will do what the Lord wants me to do. I can't believe this. hopefully she can bring in the 'greenie miracles' cause High Wycombe needs it :) 

  things are going well. Robert ended up coming to dinner on sunday at a members home with us. he tried to get out of it. he called me and told me he was in a really bad mood cause he had a bad day and didn't want to really talk with all these people at dinner and he asked me to apologize to the members and I said robert you told them you would come and if you're not going to i'll give them the phone so you can apologize to them. haha (I may have said it sarcastically but I was serious!) and he reacted just the way I wanted him to cause he came haha later he called me out on giving him a guilt trip for trying to get out of coming, it was so funny. but it was good for him to come. he ended up having a great time! he's a funny kid. It's difficult with him right now. I think the only thing that is holding him back is smoking. I think he's a bit afraid of trying to quit again cause he realized how hard it would actually be so we'll see what will happen. 

  It was sooo good to talk to you guys on sunday!!! that timing was perfect cause this dang transfer has been killing me so it was fun to talk with you. and see you :) it's so nice to have brothers and friends who are returned missionaries cause I've been getting a lot of help/advice lately that is helping a lot. but I know that most of it is something I just have to figure out on my own. I'm learning to really rely on the Lord and let him do the refining and I know that he'll help me reach the potential only he knows I have. even if the means I have to train... 

 this week has been weird. sister mocza is trying so hard to stay focused but let's face it, she's going home, she's not focused. haha she's a bit trunky but she keeps workin! I love her she's so funny. we were walking home last night and i said 'Sister Mocza what are you most excited to do when you get home?' and she responds 'pet my guinnea pig'  hahaha yes. she is so cute, I laughed so hard. there are probably 3 things that get sister Mocza excited lately. animals, flowers and curry. bless her. It's been fun working with her. this transfer was soo long but it went by pretty quick...which doesn't make sense. she invited me to come to hungary so she can make me deep fried cheese and blood sausage...what better reason to go to hungary? it can't get much worse than pig ears can it? 

  I feel like I don't have much to tell you since I just barely talked to you. the only new news is that I'm training. life is good. missions are the best. I think my favorite part of the day is definitely personal study. I've been reading from the new testament every day and I LOVE it. it is so good. it's amazing how much stronger my testimony has gotten since I've decided to serve on a mission. it was hard to come but it's changed my life in a way I never expected. I love being here, I love learning about Christ and seeing how the atonement applies to myself personally and also those around me and I love serving the people. plus i get to live in England for a year and a half :) 

  well sorry this letter is so short but I'm off to go pick up my greenie!!! oh baby!

I Love you soo much, thank you for everything. you help me soo much, I love all the letters and support. thank you!!!

 love, sister chelsea gregson

London Town

May 2, 2011

hello! how are you? so you're still getting snow? ha that is so crazy. hopefully it will warm up soon! England is gorgeous right now, I LOVE it! I've seen the sun a lot more than I was expecting to :)
 It sounds like you guys had a party watching the royal wedding haha that day was a bit of a joke. all of England shut down. literally. no one was outside. it was great though. we got a call that morning from our district leader telling us president shoma gave us permission to watch it!! haha yeah, i'm serious :) it's embarrassing how excited I was to see it. I didn't think I cared that much but I guess I did! we went to a members house to watch it, it was pretty fun to see. 

 well. this week has been another hard one. I don't know what's happened in High Wycombe but no one is listening to us right now. it's really hard. we go out proselyting all day every single day and we can barely get a conversation in. Its really hard, especially when we have to account for the day every night and you have nothing to show for it. I'm worried that president will bring different missionaries in the next transfer. he is always doing that. and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he does it with us which makes me sad cause we're working so hard!! I've been on my knees praying to Heavenly Father so much. And I've been able to feel a lot of comfort and love from him. It seems like the times that are the hardest are the times you learn the most so I've been praying that I can learn what I am supposed to learn right now and I am slowly figuring it out. everyday I've been reading conference talks from old ensigns I've found in our flat and I've found so many that have really helped me and at church on sunday I was able to feel the spirit so strongly and it gave me added strength. I know that if I put my trust in the Lord and do my best the rest is in His hands. 

 We have been able to see some miracles though. Robert is doing a bit better this week. He has taken ages to really recognize the spirit but he's starting to. we taught him on Saturday and we talked about the BOM the whole time. It was unexpected but I felt prompted to tell him about dad. I told him about when dad was so sick and he could hardly do anything for himself and how one day I was sitting at our kitchen table and dad was sitting in the living room in his chair. I remember just sitting there watching him, one hand was rubbing his head because he was in so much pain and the other hand was going through the pages of the book of mormon while it was sitting in his lap and he was crying. As I've studied the bom I've better understood why it meant so much to him and it's given me a stronger testimony of the gospel and i didn't even realize that until I came out here. that moment changed my view of this church and everything within it. as I told this to Robert I felt the spirit so strongly and I hope he felt it too! he is getting it. slowly, but he is.
anyway, I'm out of time, Love ya!! thank you for everything!! talk to ya later :)

 love, sister gregson

England Needs Jesus

April 25, 2011 

 hello! happy easter! it sounds like you guys had so much fun with all those girls from Katie's work. that was cool of you to have them over for dinner. wish I could have met them all! My easter was different but it was good :) we had dinner with my favorite portuguese lady from the ward, Laura Lapa. she is amazing. I love her! she is like family to me, she reminds me of our fam cause she is really sarcastic, its great :) she makes really good food too. sometimes she'll get a bit creative though and it can be scary haha one time she fed us bbq sardines... of course I ate them! but I don't know, not a huge fan of food with a little face staring at me. Yesterday we had another bbq and we had...get this... pig ears!! ?? haha we walk to the back yard and I look at the grill and there was chicken and ribs and ...ears. haha

 I'm always up for trying new things but it was not good. oh my days it was just wrong. sister Mocza wouldn't even eat one haha I only had a couple bites of mine and I had made sure to put on tons of seasoning to hide the taste. actually there wasn't really a taste to it but the texture was awful. you could even see little hairs on one end of it. (don't worry, i didn't eat that end) definitely not your traditional easter dinner but everything except the ears was really good! :)

I don't know what is going on in High Wycombe right now but things are really slow right now. Robert is struggling a bit too so that's been hard cause I've worked so hard with him!! he quit smoking on Monday but then he started again on Thursday so we've set another schedule to get him to quit again but I think when he started smoking again he hit a speed bump or something and lost motivation. he didn't come to church yesterday, it was the first time he hasn't come since he started coming which was probably a month or two ago. when I called him to ask why he wasn't there he said he was really tired so he was sleeping and he said he was sorry but he'll come next week but he didn't even seem too bothered about not being there. It made me so sad because he was doing soo well and now I can tell he's starting to fade.. I don't know how to help him. we're seeing him on wednesday so hopefully I can talk to him about it. He's seen so many miracles since we've started teaching him, he's just overlooking all of them. 

  We're still doing a ton of finding as well. not as much as last week but we're still doing a lot. we're having a hard time getting people to progress or even listen really. It's been difficult. I feel bad for sister Mocza, her last transfer and she's just finding all day every day. she was in her last area for 10 1/2 months and president had told her she would finish her mission there and she loved it there and was so excited to stay but then he decided to move her. it's hard for her because she doesn't know anyone or anything. she just got an email that her grandpa died so she might be going home early now so I don't know what is going to happen this week. Sister Mocza is so amazing. I look up to her so much. she was only a member for one year before she went on her mission and she didn't speak any english when she got here cause in the england mtc they don't teach english so she had to learn on the street with no training beforehand. she's incredible. I've learned so much from her.

we did an exchange this week with sisters serving in Bracknell. sister Mocza went to bracknell and sister mcmanis came here to serve with me for a day. it was so much fun! Sister mcmanis is going home at the end of this transfer as well. she is a great missionary. she gave me a lot of great advice too, I've been struggling with a couple of things and when we were on the bus she was just talking about her mission and some of the things she had said were literally an answer to my prayers! it was amazing. we had a blast. 

  anyway, I gotta go but thank you so much for everything! I got the package :) stop sending me candy haha but I loved the plan of salvation chart! it is soo cute!!

 I hope you have a great week! watch the royal wedding for me this week haha. It think all of england is shutting down that day so I don't know what we're going to be doing... people here are obssessed with it. it's so funny, we walked past this pub the other day and there were flags up everywhere of william and kate in little hearts. at a pub haha adorable.

well thank you for everything! I love you so much and I am so grateful for all you do for me! you're amazing. Have a great birthday this week!!!!!! wish I could be there for it. treat yourself to Normandys, on me!

I love you :)

Love, chels

TGI P-day

April 18, 2011

Hello! how are you? Did you know seeya is hello in hungarian? :) wait till you hear my hungarian, its great! ha! you asked if we have a lot of hungarian missionaries but no we don't. president shamo just likes putting me with them! there are three hungarian sisters so I won't be surprised if I serve with all of them.

sister Mocza is amazing. I love her! she's a really hard worker and she's just so sweet. she was the only missionary who came out in her group that didn't speak and english. they don'e teach it at the preston mtc either so she had to learn it all on the streets. she speaks it really well though.

this week has been so hard. I quit counting how many hours of finding we did this week. it was a lot. we had 8 appointments fall through this week which was really dissappointing. especially because we had spent about an hour calling members and trying to find people to come with us on the teaches. its the worst when you bring a member with you to a lesson and then the people aren't even there. so yeah, this week was pretty long and I've been looking forward to pday since last pday haha I'm definitely taking a nap today :) I don't know what is with people this last week but no one really listened to us except jehovahs witnesses. they can be pretty entertaining actually! we put all this effort and hard work into finding new people to teach and literally got nothing. It was tough.

Robert isn't getting baptized this week which is kind of a bummer but he is still doing great. he just wants more time. he moves really slowly but he has come so far. just keep him in your prayers! it is definitely helping! he is down to 3 cigarrettes a day! yesterday he actually only smoked two but he called me last night and asked if he could just go crazy and have as many as he wants today because today is his last day. nope! sorry robert! it was a nice try haha he stresses me out so bad. seriously I hate it. this weekend he had to cancel an appointment with us because his motorcycle broke and then his phone was off on saturday so I didn't think he was going to come to church but he showed!! he rode a bicycle all the way to church :) in a nice shirt and tie. bless his heart. he's so cool, I love teaching him!

We talked to Jannie this week about moving up his baptism to May but he still wants to do it on his birthday in August. he said he would pray about it. I hope he changes his mind cause I really want to be here for it! it's been so fun teaching him. he is such an amazing guy and he shows so much faith. He loves the people of the ward too, they are so good at welcoming people into our church, it helps us so much.

Yesterday we got to watch the Sunday afternoon session of conference...finally!!! and it was amazing! I loved it! I cried through like the whole thing haha but it was amazing. definitely an answer to prayers. Richard G. Scotts talk was adorable :) I loved it. and then yes! I was so excited that Elder Holland spoke! he is my favorite and I knew that he would say exactly what robert needed to hear and what do ya know? he did! robert loved President Uchtdorfs talk on receiving revelation and has been wondering if it was an answer to prayers or if it was a coincidence and then elder holland gets up and tells him it was an answer to his prayers. it was so amazing! I love conference so much but this year it was so perfect. we've seen so much progression with robert because of it. what a miracle

Thank you so much for all you do for me! I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to have you for a mom and what an amazing family I have. You've helped me so much in my life. thank you! I love you!

 love, sister gregson

From Across the Pond

April 11, 2011

Sounds like the weather isn't too great in Utah right now. suckers :) it is beautiful here!! flowers come out like weeds in england it is soo amazing. I love it! This week has been great! sister mocza is so awesome, she has a really thick hungarian accent, it is so cute. I like her a lot. she is so funny, she goes crazy for curry. seriously, you mention curry and she about has a heart attack haha normally she's pretty quiet unless she's talking about curry. she's great.

 things are going great here! we're having a hard time finding new people to teach but at least we have Robert and Jannie. both of them are doing great. we were able to take Jannie to the temple on saturday and he loved it! I got some cool pics but I can't figure out how to send them...sorry. hopefully soon!

 Robert is doing well too. he stresses me out so bad. we taught him on thursday and then I couldn't get a hold of him on friday or saturday and I was worried he wasn't going to be at church but he still showed up! but right after sacrament he left. I didn't even get a chance to talk to him cause I had to play in sacrament and when I was done he was already gone. we called him last night though and he is doing really great. he is so funny. he didn't used to be funny but he is now. I think just cause I've known him for so long that he has finally started to feel comfortable with me. he is really reserved so he doesn't really seem to like getting to know knew people so I think that will be a struggle with Sister Mocza but it should be fine. I don't know how much I've told you about Robert giving up smoking but when we committed him sis allred said she would give up sugar because she is addicted. she had this massive box of candy in our flat and would seriously eat candy all day. she really is addicted haha Roebrt didn't believe her and so on her last day she gave him the box of candy. I think he's replacing sugar with cigarettes now :) he ate so much that night, he ate an entire box of peeps. it was disgusting. but when i called him last night he had just eaten like 24 pixie sticks. ha. he's so funny. so yeah as of right now everything is still going well while we're getting him ready for baptism! keep him in your prayers please! it has definitely been helping so thank you very much:)

 we had a baptism on saturday. Emmanuel Halm (the second emmanuel) was baptized.  the baptism went really well. andy galleher baptized him which was cool. andy was baptized in July last year so he was really excited. he was really really nervous though. he about drowned emmanuel haha but it went great!

 things are going well! I love it in High Wycombe. I think I'll serve the rest of my mission here. I'm sure president would be fine with that :) sis Mocza goes home after this transfer so I'm pretty much guarunteed to be here for a little while longer. the ward is so much fun and I like High Wycombe. I've been told the closer you get to london the crazier people get. but I love it here! sister mocza was so shocked by the people here. it was so funny, she served in her last area for 10 months and so apparently they are way different. she thinks High Wycombe is the slums haha people are a bit crazy and we do live next to a pub so at night that's not always fun but I think this area is awesome! I love it. I guess I was just born to serve in the ghetto :)

well I hope everything is going well at home!! it sounds like things are good, I was sad to hear about krystal alvey. how is her family doing? thank goodness we have the gospel and understand the power of the atonement

I love you guys so much, thank you for everything!!
love ya!

love, sister gregson

Transfers and a New Comp

April 6, 2011

The reign of sister allred and sister gregson is officially over. I was convinced we were going to be together for one more transfer but she got moved :( guess where she is going?!! CHICHESTER!!! hahaha I love chi so I was super excited. I'm sad that she's gone cause we've had a great time and we work well together but I'm excited to work with my new companion. her name is sister Mocsa (motsa) and she is hungarian. my second hungarian companion! :) she is a goat farmer back home and all the elders told me I'm going to get my little butt kicked because she works so hard but I'm really excited about it! This is her last transfer so I'll have a lot to learn from her. apparently she's awesome though.

 conference was amazing!!! I absolutely loved it. the preisthood did a breakfast at the church that morning so I even got a traditional egg mcmuffin so no, I didn't miss out :) ha!

 my favorite talk was definitely uchtodorfs. for two reasons. #1 he said a quote something along the lines of how missionary work is done more through actions and service and when necessary use words. I was just thinking 'Sweet!! no more contact walking!!' ;) but really his talk was so perfect. it was an answer to prayers for sister allred and I but especially for Robert. that was the only session of conference that robert came to and it was as if president uchtdorf wrote the talk just for him. he talked a lot about receiving revelation and how it comes gradually and it takes patience. it was perfect. we talked to Robert afterwords and he seemed completely spooked that president uchtodorf had said what he said. he left really speachless so we didn't know what he thought. the next day we had dinner at a members home and then they had the ysa over for fhe and asked robert to stay and he did! and guess what, we happened to watch uchtdorfs talk AGAIN! Robert doesn't always have much to say but he seemed really interested in the fact that the talk was perfect for him. tuesday after we found out sis allred is getting transfered we met with robert again and we talked to him about baptism for probably 2 hours and he sat in silence for probably half an hour. literally. he was sweating haha then he got up and started pacing. it took ages but then finally he said ' ok let's set a date then' yeah!!!! I couldn't believe it. we have worked so hard with him and he FINALLY committed!!! the biggest miracle of my mission so far. he's a little worried that he won't be able to quit smoking by then and he still doesn't know if he even believes in God right now but he is willing to take that leap of faith! please pray your hearts out for this kid. he needs a miracle. sister allred and I always pray about a date when we commit people to baptism and within the 4 1/2 months we served together we never got the same date....not very in tune with the spirit i gues?? haha but when we prayed about roberts we got the same date! so he is now preparing for april 23. just pray. pray really hard for him. he needs it so bad. this kid has so much potential he just has to develop his faith. he can go so far. he just needs a reason to.

 anyway, sorry today is so short and crazy. don't have much time cause of transfers. thanks for everything!! I love you so much and you truly inspire me and keep me going. :) Love ya!!

 love, chels

ps tell em happy birthday for me!

Pip Pip Cheerio

March 28, 2011

I think I'll start with a joke a member told me this week.
who is the first man mentioned in the bible?
...chap #1...
hilarious I know.

hello!! how are you this week?? it sounds like the weather can't make up its mind in utah. england has been so sunny up until about friday. 

 this week has been AMAZING. when we went shopping we found skippy peanut butter which I thought was going to be the highlight of my week but it just got better and better :) we saw so many miracles. mostly with robert

Robert has been doing so well. it's like ever since we took him to the temple he is starting to progress more and more. we decided to teach him the restoration again but then we decided we wanted to show him the joseph smith movie. we showed him the first half on wednesday and the rest of it on friday. wednesday was really cool because we got him to pray in front of us for the first time! it was amazing. every time we've asked him to pray he just laughs at us like we're idiots or something and says no way but he said it on wednesday. it was really cool. and then on friday after we watched the rest of the movie we talked a lot about Joseph Smith but then mostly about prayer. we told him about being sincere with your prayers and that when you pray and expect an answer from god you need to have the intent of acting on that answer. we then asked him what he would do if he got an answer from god and he said he would join the church and be baptized. I was so shocked that he said that. we've been teaching robert since my second or third day in Wycombe and I've been here for 4 1/2 months now! he says he is starting to feel more comfortable with praying and he thinks he feels something but he is still doubting. he'll get there. just pray for him please! sacrament was perfect for him yesterday as well. it was testimony meeting and everyone who got up said everything perfectly. most people that got up talked about their conversions and prayer. emanuel smith even got up and talked about how much the church has helped him since he started meeting with us and getting baptized. how perfect is that?! it was amazing. we have started to see so many miracles with him so hopefully he'll get the confirmation that he needs. he is so funny, I love teaching him.

 Jannie is doing really great too. he is so busy so it's hard to meet with him a lot but some members invited us all over to dinner the other night and he loved it. we watched the joseph smith movie with him after dinner and i'm pretty sure I saw him wiping a tear at one point :) that movie is powerful! 

 emmanuel halm. bless him. he is still doing great. his baptism in on april 9 and he is still accepting everything so easily. we taught him word of wisdom last night and he thought no tea and coffee was so funny but he didn't really care about not drinking it anymore. he thought it was funny because in england they are obssessed with it here but he's african so whatevs haha

 well I am running really low on time so i gotta go. I'm sorry this email is so short but things are going well! I can't wait for conference!!!! I am looking so forward to it. best time of the year :)
 thanks for everything! I love you so much

love, sister gregson

London Calling

March 21, 2011

hello! how are you today? things are great in High Wycombe. spring is here and it is amazing! to celebrate spring alyssa wore pink bunny ears when we walked to church with her yesterday. all the way there haha I tried to take them from her but she refused to take them off. she is so funny haha. bless her heart. 

 this week has been amazing! first off thank you for sending those contacts. I got them this week and my eyes are so much better. they aren't bothering me at all! thanks for the sheet music as well, that will definitely come in handy :) 

 things are good, we've seen Robert a couple times this week. He is so tough to teach and we are still trying to help him feel the spirit. we are always telling him to pay attention to how he feels but he always looks past it. it can be so frustrating. we took him to ysa fhe on monday and I think he really liked it. it was good for him to meet more people his age that are members and they were so good at talking with him and making him feel welcome. we were also able to take him to the temple on saturday. it was so amazing! I love the temple! I want to do a session soo bad. when we got there, there is a senior couple who stays there so I went and talked to them and told them a little about robert and how we just wanted to make sure he feels the spirit. it was hard at first because there were so many people there so there were a lot of distractions. but then this man shows up, manuel pereira, from portugal. sis morgenson got so excited and told him he needed to talk to robert so he takes robert aside and talked to him for about 45 minutes! sis morgenson was so excited and said that it was a miracle that manuel was there because he wasn't supposed to be in england for another week and he has the most powerful testimony and conversion story. she just cried and cried because she was so surprised at what a miracle it was. after they talked we went back to High Wycombe and we talked to robert about it and asked him how he had felt and he didn't have much to say. he said he didn't know if he had felt the holy ghost of not. he loved talking to manuel though. he is still very interested in everything. we extended baptism to him and it was so funny. there is a little lds store by the temple and we had bought root beer there so when we asked him to be baptized he started choking on his root beer hahaha it was so funny. I've never gotten that reaction before! then he just started saying 'baby steps baby steps' so then the next day at church there was a member speaking in sacrament who is such a powerful speaker and sis allred and I were so excited because it was exactly what robert needed to hear. he is more keen on praying now but it's still going to be a slow process. 

  Jannie is doing great as well. right now he still wants to be baptized on his birthday in august so we are still trying to get him to do it sooner and he said he is praying about it. we had him say the prayer in our last teach with him and it was amazing. he is so sincere and the spirit was so strong. we are taking him to dinner at a members house this week and we're going to show him the Joseph Smith movie. he is still trying to get an answer but I'm pretty sure he already has:) he is a personal trainer and so he told in return for what we've done for him he wants to give us a free 7 day pass to a gym haha what a great guy. he's so cool
  

  sadly, the gomes family dropped this week :( that was a bit depressing. I was so sad about that. we have been working soo hard with them. sis allred has been teaching them since before I got here. they've been improving a lot too! we taught them about the atonement and then started talking about baptism and Luis(the dad) said absolutely not. Jamie really wanted to be baptized until he realized that meant he wouldn't be catholic anymore. they told us we could keep coming back and teaching them but it's pointless because they aren't changing their minds. It was tough to see that because they need the gospel so bad. the way they are living right now is so sad and the abuse they've seen is awful. 

 anyway, things are great. I love being here and england is gorgeous!! oh emanuel smith is doing awesome as well! he's already telling everyone about the church and bringing friends. its so cool. I love seeing the way the church changes peoples lives. 

 thank you so much for all you do for me! I have the best family in the world. I love you so much! have a great week

 love, chels

 

SPRING!!!

March 7, 2011

it is a gorgeous day today!! the sun is shining and it feels like spring :) yay!! the flowers have started to bloom as well, it is the best. I love summer :) 

  this week has been amazing. The Lord is blessing us so much right now. I can't believe it! It has been so much fun, I love being busy teaching people. 

 Monday night we went knocking and ...well it was a crazy night. we picked a street that is infested with proper wierdos. a man answered the door in his underwear and didn't even care and then his little daughter comes to the door and she's completely naked. I was dying. It took sister Allred FOREVER to realize the guy didn't even have pants on haha It was so funny. he had no shame.... anyway we kept knockin away and ran into a few more of God's crazy children and then we knocked on a door and a man from sri lanka answered the door and he let us in and we taught him and his family!! his wife had to go to work but we taught the dad and his son and daughter. it was amazing. they were so open to everything that we taught them. we taught them again yesterday. we brought a member who is also from sri lanka. this time we taught the dad and the mom, the kids weren't there. the dad was still very excited about it and he believes that Thomas Monson is a prophet! the mom also believed what we were teaching her but the only book she wants to read is her bible. that's it. so we started small and committed her to read the intro and the testimonies. they were so nice, we are going back later this week and I am so excited!! I love teaching families :) there isn't 8 of them but close! just 5. haha

  so Emanuel had an interview with President Shamo this week to figure out everything with his muslim backround. he pretty much asked him if any of us were going  to get killed by angry muslims if he gets baptized and good news!!! we're safe :) he says in Nigeria, where he's from, the Christians and Muslims have a great relationship and so everything will be fine. it was an amazing interview. I love the way President Shamo teaches. you can tell he loves serving people. he served his mission in ELSM as well so of course he loves it! so since we couldn't teach emanuel any more until he had his interview we have had to cram everything in before his baptism, it's been a little crazy and stressful but he is acepting everything so well. we taught him about tithing this morning and he got excited about it. it was so cool. we are so blessed to have a temple in this mission. we took him on saturday and he absolutely loved it. over and over he said 'I can feel it, I can feel it' (the spirit) he was just so happy the whole time we were there. he was excited to see the clip of Thomas S Monson and he LOVED the joseph smith movie. whenever something happened that he liked he would kind of cheer haha at the part where Joseph tells the men that they will die at that instant if they didn't stop talking so horribly about the people emanuel was like 'Yeah!!' haha it was so funny. he is the coolest guy ever. teaching him has been so much fun. 

 alyssa is doing great. she is just as entertaining as ever. she has made my life so exciting since I met her. . every week something new is happening with her. but she is so golden. she has downloaded like every church talk ever given and she puts them on her ipod and she has all these church apps on her phone. it is so awesome. she's already like half way through the book of mormon too. I love her to death 

  that about sums up our week. we are teaching some amazing people right now. we truly are so blessed.

 Robert.. remember robert? he came to church yesterday!! that was a miracle. we haven't been able to meet with him forever cause of his work schedule but he quit his job so now we can meet with him more. we taught him at the church the other day and the spirit was soo strong! it was the first time I've felt the spirit while teaching him. it was amazing. and he came to church which we didn't think would happen for a long time so that was a miracle. I think he is even going to come to the YSA FHE tonight. yeah!!

 well thanks for everything!! I love you so much, you guys are all amazing! I hope everyone is doing well. thank you for the letters and everything, you guys are the best!

 love ya!
love, sister gregson

Rain, rain, go away!

February 28, 2011

good morning!! how are you doing? thank you for the letter. I'm so excited about mike and alisha!!!!! I can't believe I won't be there for it though. I'll be meeting all these neices and nephews when I get home! I'm so happy for them

 ask me how many times I've had a car drive past me this week and hit a puddle and I got soaked... :) yesterday we walked to church and it was so nice and sunny and then when we left it was pouring rain!! luckily some members saw us walking and offered to give us a ride. its been pretty rainy and cold this week but flowers are starting to come out so spring is on it's way!!

 you asked how far london is from High Wycombe...there is actually a building with a sign on it that is right by our flat that says london 29 miles, and oxford 25 miles. :)

  well not much has happened in the last four days. we taught emmanuel smith again but we're officially not aloud to any more until he gets an interview with president. he's been really sick the past couple days though and was at the hospital yesterday so we don't know when that will happen. hopefully soon!! he is so excited about his baptism but as I said his family is not happy and so president has to check out the situation and see if anyone's life will be at risk....crazy stuff...

  alyssa got into some anti stuff recently. did I tell you about that? she was on the internet downloading all these conference talks and motab music and stuff and downloaded a movie she thought was good but it was totally anti and trying to prove the book of mormon wrong. she showed us some of it and I got pretty frustrated about it so we showed her the talk from elder holland safety for the soul. it's about the book of mormon. she didn't seem to bothered by the anti stuff but I worry that if she continues finding it, it will wear on her eventually.

  everything is going great!! I love being a missionary! it's a lot of fun. we've started teaching some great people recently. sadly none of them showed up to church yesterday which was depressing haha. angie was there though! we haven't seen her or been able to get a hold of her all this last week and I was worried that our recent convert was already going to go less active but she was at church and she is doing great. she just had a really busy week with work and she was house sitting for her mom while she is away so that is a relief.

 my eye is still really bothering me so it will be nice to get those new contacts, thank you for sending them :) hopefully it will solve the problem otherwise I don't know what I'll do!

 thank you so much for everything!!!! I love you guys so much, thank you for the letters and support. it keeps me going. I miss you guys but I love being a part of this great work. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the amazing people around me! thank you! I lvoe you so much!!

 love, chels

A Few Pics I Thought You'd Enjoy (Feb 23, 11)

Transfers!!

February 23, 2011

well it's transfers and guess what?! i'm staying in wycombe and so is sister allred! haha not much of a change but we're excited because things have really picked up this last week and we're teaching some great people. I love the ward as well. they are so amazing. I feel like I've been friends with these people forever. I have so much fun with them. the other night we were teaching someone at the church and as we were leaving there were a couple members there who were putting a band together. one brought his sax, one was at the piano and one had an electric guitar. so as we were leaving I couldn't resist the opportunity of a little jam sesh. I miss those! I joined them and started singing hey jude haha it was so much fun!!! 

 this week has been really cool. we're still teaching the Gomez family, the portuguese family. they still haven't come to church but they are really liking the lessons we teach them. all of them except the oldest boy anyway. he's the only reason they don't come to church. we taught them about the tree of life the other day and we had them draw a picture of what they thought it looked like. it was so funny. in one of the pictures their strait and narrow path had a round about haha england is obssessed with round abouts. 

   we started teaching a guy named emmanuel smith this week. he is amazing. he is from africa, he is really tall and you'd think he'd be way intimidating but he is so soft spoken. I can barely understand him when he talks. He has a friend who is a member in London and so he was a referral. yet another one!! I love member referrals :) as we've been teaching him he has loved it and he came to church on sunday and really enjoyed it. we were teaching him the plan of salvation last night and he said that he felt the spirit so strongly as we were teaching. it was so cool. he started talking about how he tries to read the book of mormon everyday and every time he does he feels so good and gets so excited. it was amazing to see his face light up as he started talking about it. well, the first time we met him he committed to baptism so he is getting baptized on march 12!!!! we hadn't even started talking about baptism he just asked if he could get baptized. that makes my job pretty easy :) however, this is the tough part. his family is in Nigeria still and they are all muslim. he was basically raised muslim. he never really liked it though and recently started looking into christianity and loves it so much. he told his family he's been going to church and getting baptized and they are not happy at all. so now President Shamo has to interview him before we teach him anymore because it gets so messy with muslims. it's kinda scary. apparently you put their life at risk and your own as well...I don't know why. so we're supposed to see him again on friday but I don't know if we can now because we can't teach him anything else until he's had his interview.... crazy stuff. 

  Angie is doing well. well last I heard haha. she is impossible to get a hold of lately. but last time we taught her she was so happy and said she's felt so good since her baptism. her and her mom are hoping to go through the temple on their one year mark. we are aloud to go through with people we've taught so I would get to go!!! that would be amazing!! I'm hoping I can go with Jo Bishop as well. I am so lucky to have a temple in my mission. I wish I could go do a session though. I miss it. Angie is already a little missionary :) she is telling people about the church and she is planning on giving a book of mormon to one of her co workers. she is so great :) 

  so we went knocking the other day and the very last door we knocked on had the coolest garden I have ever seen. it was like a fairy tale. the guy was pretty funny. we complimented him on his garden and then he was like wait till you see the back and he took us around and...well i don't know how to describe it but it was so cool!! he's been working on this garden for like 25 years and...I don't know I really can't describe it. my camera had died so I don't have pictures either. but it was cool. it was like a fairytale/dr seuss world. his name is keith howkins, you could probably do a search on google for him and find some pics. you would have died though, it was amazing. there is a bush in his front yard that he had shaped into a train...things like that. haha

  anyway. things are going so great here!! I love High Wycombe and I love serving the people here. I've learned so much about myself since I've been here and everything means so much more to me. I was so naive before!!! the church is true, the book is blue, and I love you!!! have a great week!!! love you so much!
 love, sister gregson.

ps thanks for sending the contacts, I will try and send the other ones back soon when i get the chance. it was fun talking to you the other day :)

pps funny story, I was on the bus the other day and this little boy that looked like ron weasley told me I have an adorable accent haha

love ya!!

Happy Valentine's Day

February 14, 2011

hello?!???! why aren't my emails sending? that's so weird. too bad cause the past couple weeks have been crazy.

  this week on the other hand has been amazing!!! wet...but amazing!! we had a baptism last night! since you haven't been getting my emails I don't know how much I told you about Angie and Yemmi... yemmi is a friend of a woman in our ward, penny. penny has been telling yemmi about the gospel for years but yemmi was never really interested. the last couple weeks she came to church with penny and then about 3 weeks ago penny took her to the slough ward cause that is the area she lives in. that same week in church president and sister shamo just so happened to be speaking in sacrament meeting in slough and they are amazing speakers. yemmi was talking to sister shamo after the meeting telling her how much she loved the talk and everything and then sister shamo said 'well let's get baptized!!' and so yemmi decided she wanted to be baptized :) we didn't get to teach her though because she's in the slough area which is our district leaders area. but then a couple days after that we got a call from our DL and he asked us if we wanted a baptism date! yeah!! angie is yemmis daughter and she decided she wanted to be baptized with her mom! so we taught her in two weeks and they got baptized last night. it wsa amazing. angie and yemmi are incredible women. angie would get so emotional in our teaches with her. the spirit was always so strong. she will be amazing for the church because she has a strong desire to work with the youth. it was an amazing service last night. president and sister shamo came and spoke which was so cool. I love seeing them and they are so inspired. I always love hearing what they have to say.

 by the way. I was talking to sister shamo about my eye last night. i went to the doctor a few days ago and he thinks I am having an allergic reaction to my contacts... sis shamo said she would call you soon and give you my number so we can figure out what to do... so I guess I'll talk to you soon!!

  about the sheet music. just send me anything. piano stuff, accompanying stuff, singing as well. the ward and the mission keeps asking me to sing and play for all these things but I don't have any music, just make sure its easy please since I can't ever practice.

  we also had Zone conference this week with the shamo's it was really cool. they just talked a lot about staying focused and to always be working. even on the bus! that's whats hardest for me. I am so bad at bus contacting. president gave me a challenge this week. he told me to find brad pitt and angelina jolie haha they live in High Wycombe. supposedly by one of our ward members, they know which house it is. i'll see what I can do haha shouldn't be too hard!

  the Gomez family, the portuguese one, is doing great. they are slowly progressing. we still can't get them to come to church though because if one of the kids doesn't want to go then none of them go. we never would have been at church if we worked that way when I was growing up :) but andre, the oldest son, has been staying for our lessons now and he prayed the last two times we were there!! so it is getting better with them.

  I've had some amazing spiritual experiences this week. as I learn to submit to the lord and his will it is changing my outlook on the work. I definitely feel His presence in my life more. as I pray and as I study I feel overwhelmed with the spirit. it is amazing:)

  anyway, I gotta go but thank you so much for everything!! sorry you haven't been getting my letters...I don't know whats going on but hopefully you get this!! transfers is next week so you probably won't hear from me till wednesday. I love High Wycombe and the ward is so amazing. they are so much fun to be around and the longer I'm here the more I love them so I would be sad to leave but I'll go where I'm needed!

   tell everyone hello for me! I hope all is well! happy valentines day!! I love you so much! thank you for everything! you really mean so much to me and I cannot thank you enough for all the love and support you give me. thank you! I love you!

 love, sister gregson